The present invention relates to a surgical suture which can be used for stitching up even extensive skin areas or skin deformations to be surgically removed or which can be used for precluding the expansion of the scar of conventional surgical wounds.
It is prior known that extensive deformations of skin areas can be surgically removed and the resulting tissue-devoid area can be closed by means of mechanical devices, described e.g. in Patent publications U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,971, EP-648093 and WO 93/21849, as well as by means of tissue expanders. The question is about the removal of skin deformations or the removal of a bald scalp area. However, the above-mentioned devices are expensive and inconvenient to use.
On the other hand, a problem with conventional surgical wounds is the expansion of scar in several portions of the body as the suture migrates in a certain manner within tissues gradually therethrough and the tissue extends and the scar may expand.
Patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,382 discloses a surgical suture having a useful yield elongation within the range of 2-9% and a visco-elastic elongation of 10-30% as well as a break elongation of 20-45%. The curves shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the publication indicate that the discussed filament has a stiffness which, even within the range of elastic elongation, is at least one order in excess of that of the present invention. A curve C depicted in FIG. 2 of the application corresponds more or less to this prior known case.
Even though the publication discloses the use of silicone elastomer as one of several alternatives the suture is excessively stiff to be used in the purpose of the invention for stitching together extensive removable skin areas or, in terms of conventional surgical wounds, for preventing the expansion of a scar for the reason that the suture or filament migrates through the tissue.